Deepest look inside a broken secret analysis system,
April 8, 2000
John A. Gentry
John has written a very personal book, somewhat vitriolic in its attacks on both Bob Gates for politicization and Directorate of Intelligence managers in general for being both ignorant and lacking in courage. It is essential reading for anyone considering improvements in how we do intelligence analysis, and includes an eighteen-point program for reforming both the process of intelligence and the management of intelligence analysis. The figure on page 226 comparing the Traditional, Opportunity-Oriented, and Opportunism-Oriented “Schools” of intelligence analysis is alone worth the price of the book. Includes a number of interesting original internal documents from his fight with DI management.
Mr. Arno Reuser, Arno the Curious, is a Master Librarian who has done more for the practice of Open Source Inteligence (OSINT) in support of national security than anyone else in Europe. He has been a pioneer in the explotiation of badly-delivered OSINT from private sector vendors, writing original PERL programs to make sense of their feeds; he has known how to make the most of the Internet; and above all, he has known how to find and engage human intellects around the world, each capable of producing unique tailored knowledge not available online or in print. He is the Master Librarian of the OSINT world and all seven intelligence tribes.
Disappointing in Contrast to Trailer Life's Manual, But Still Useful,April 2, 2008
Woodall Publishing Corp
My wife inherited a 1988 Winnebago (31 foot, no slide-outs) and we've decided to bring it up to speed for beach trips. This is one of two books I have bought to get started, it is the lesser of the two but still useful.
RV Repair and Maintenance Manual: Updated and Expanded (RV Repair and Maintenance Manual) is absolutely one the best car maintenance books I have ever had the pleasure of using (I also have a 1964 MGB and related maintenance books). This other book is brilliantly organized, crystal-clear, and I especially appreciate the full-page trouble-shooting guide with symptoms and fixes in two columns.
If you want only one book, buy the other book. I am not unhappy with this Owner's Handbook, I use it for overview reading, but it is not anywhere near as good as the Trailer Life book in terms of detail and trouble-shooting.
I am thinking seriously about learning to fly helicopters at the age of 55. A private pilot's license can be purchased for a flat fee of $12,500 in my area, including a lot of extra hours to really add that extra safety factor of assurance beyond the minimum required.
I bought this book to get a sense of what I would be getting into, and I find it fully satisfactory. It is the “official” FAA book and unlike most government publications I have seen in the past, this one is well-organized, fully illustrated into color, with figures also in color.
It is divided into two parts, the first part deals with helicoptors, and the second part (chapters 15 through 21) with gyroplanes, which are a hybrid capable of achieving fixed wing speeds and often with wings that increase stability.
The final chapter is about aerunautical decision-making.
The FAA designation for this handbook is FAA-H-8083-21.
I appreciate this handbook–it makes it crystal clear that serious training will demand my total attention, and that in combination, the complexity of the aerodynamics of the helicopter, the instruments required to calibrate the operations of the helicopter, and the unpredictability and force of weather (not covered in this book, but I am also an offshore sailing skipper with an advanced weather certificate) all make piloting a helicopter a very challenging endeavor.
This handbook also persuaded me that the training facility I have found, which includes a flight simulator, the better for that–I definitely want to feel comfortable in a simulator as part of the training.
Engrossing, Poetic, Meaingful, and Reminiscent,March 31, 2008
Emile Hirsch
wanted a break from reading and found this at Blockbuster. Initially I was amused because it seemed to embody every cliche from the top ten feel good movies I have watched over the last 30 years, but I ended up taking notes and two in particular stand out:
WOW when he cuts into the wild
I truly respect and even *love* this movie.
It never occurred to me that it was Sean Penn doing the acting until I read some of the other reviews–so a complement: Sean Penn the actor was completely obscured by the actual protagonist.
There are lines of poetry throughout the movie that I imagine must be credited to the original creative spirit that crafted the story, although Sean Penn himself did the screenplay, so one cannot be certain where the original work ended and Sean Penn's own brand of magic began.
Here are a few lines that I noted down:
When he encounters an older hippie couple:
“This hippie thing is not working–some people feel they don't deserve love.”
“When you kill (a wild animal) get to it fast, once the flies and creepy crawlers are on it….”
“A murder of truth….”
Now, *without disdain* but rather with appreciation, here are the movies from the past that I found lightly inter-mingled in spirit within this one:
This film was a real treat, with at least three extra phases of complexity and mystery beyond where I expected to end.
More to the point, it held my 13-year-old's attention completely, to the point of pausing it when he wanted to go to the bathroom or get ice cream or whatever. [Note: lots of four letter words in the first half of the movie, this can freak out the super-strict, but if you believe in helping kids understand reality beyond their sterile little world in the suberbs, I personally believe this movie is outstanding on multiple levels and for multiple purposes.
Others have reviewed the details–for me, it's enough to justify the five star rating (beyond the obvious merit of the proven actors and actresses) by simply saying, any film that can hold my 55-year-old *very* demanding attention, and my 13-year-old's rapt attention (with discussion afterwards of ethical dilemmas, moral judgements, and when right is not right and wrong is not wrong, is simply a WOW.
